The sustainability of the PTPTN Loan Scheme

PTPTN or the National Higher Education Fund Corporation has received government grants totaling RM6.456 billion from 2011 to 2015. Without these grants, PTPTN would have suffered accumulated losses of RM5.894 billion from 2011 to 2014. With the latest repayment rate to PTPTN standing at approximately 55% and with the demand for PTPTN loans expected to grow, we estimate that the government may have to fork out an additional RM26 billion from 2015 to 2025 to PTPTN in order to pay for its interest servicing, 1st class loan waivers and the early repayment discounts. In this report, we document the reasons for PTPTN’s financial problems and we propose a number of solutions in order to address these woes, both in the short term as well as in the longer term.